Galați () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the seat at Galați, between 45°25'N and 46°10'N latitude, 27°20'E and 28°10'E longitude. It borders the counties of Vaslui, Vrancea, Brăila, Tulcea. To the east it borders the Republic of Moldova, the border crossing points being Galați–Giurgiulești (road and broad-gauge railway) and Oancea–Cahul (road). The county was established in 1968, through the territorial reorganization of the former , which included a territory similar to that of the current Brăila and Galați counties, plus the northern part of Tulcea County.
Galați County is part of the South-East Development Region (together with the counties of Vrancea, Buzău, Brăila, Constanța and Tulcea), of the Lower Danube Euroregion (together with the counties of Brăila and Tulcea, with the Cahul and Cantemir districts in the south of the Republic of Moldova and with the Odesa region in the west of Ukraine) as well as the Free Economic Zone Galați–Giurgiulești–Reni (Romania-Moldova-Ukraine).
Toponymy Codex Latinus Parisinus from 1395 mentions a "Caladda at the bend of the Danube", a Genoese port of call where it could dock. The name Galata, a neighbourhood of Constantinople and another former Genoese port of call, has the same origin. The Romanian academic world mostly adheres to this Italian origin dating back to the 14th century: caladda in Genoese means "mooring hold", and the Genoese had numerous such places on the shores of the Black Sea and on the banks of the Danube, including, in present-day Romania, Giurgiu and Licostomo, near Chilia Veche.
The discovery of the thesaurus of Barboși (southern quarter of the city of Galați, on the left bank of the Siret river), composed of 3,700 silver coins bearing the Greek inscriptions Gallati and Kallatiasy, will tip the scales towards the theory supported by Vasile Pârvan and Carl Patsch, which is the basis of the name of the Roman province Galatia in Asia Minor. The name Galați is also known as Kalas in Turkish, Γκαλάτσι in Greek and גאלאץ in Hebrew.
But the followers of protochronism (pseudohistorical current which became very influential in Romania under the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu) links the name Galați, even if it does not appear before the 14th century, to the Celtic root and Indo-European languages, [gall-] meaning "foreigner" (Gaul, gaulois, Gaulish, Galatia, Galicia, Galicia)In reality, the root [gal-] is not Celtic, but Germanic and formed the word walh denoting non-Germans (Celts or Romans)." and being a derivation of Galatiens (the Greek name of the Gauls, on the grounds that this area, inhabited in antiquity by the Thracians from north (Dacians), also experienced the migration of the Celts. If ancient historians such as Herodotus really mention the presence of Celtic tribes in the Balkans and their migration to Anatolia in the 4th century BC, to found Galatia, Romanian protochronists, for their part, date the toponym Galați to the 23rd century BC, claiming that on the contrary, the proto-Celts would have migrated later from Anatolia to the Alps, where they developed Hallstatt culture in Europe. Also, they link the name Galați to the Tabula Peutingeriana from 1265 (map where, in addition to Galatia in central Anatolia, there is also Tanasia-Galatia north of the Black Sea) and state that the Celts of Galatia would be the population mentioned in the Bible in Paul the Apostle's Epistle to the Galatians. And according to them, genealogy studies with modern tools of molecular genetics would support their thesis.
Finally, other hypotheses call for Slavic or Cuman etymologies. According to one, the inhabitants of Galicia - Ukrainians originally from the mountainous regions of the Carpathians - would have given the name to the city of Galați in the 13th century, when the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia expanded its area of commercial and political influence in Moldavia. This is the thesis favoured by Russian and Ukrainian historical circles. Also, the Serbs claim that the origin of the name is Galac. According to the other, the name derives from the Cuman galat, which appears, also from the 13th century, in other toponyms from the surroundings, for example Gălățui, a lake name whose suffix is Cuman (the suffix [-ui] means "water".
Geography and environment Boundaries
The county lies on a low plain, between the Prut River to the east, the Siret River to the west and southwest. Both flow into the Danube which forms the border with Tulcea County to the southeast.
Galați County is bordered by: Republic of Moldova to the East – Cahul District. Vrancea County to the West. Vaslui County to the North. Brăila County and Tulcea County to the South.
Geography Located at the extreme east–central part of Romania, at the confluence of the Danube with the rivers Siret and Prut, Galați County has an area of , which represents 1.9% of the country's surface. The county includes 4 urban centers (the cities of Galați and Tecuci, the towns of Târgu Bujor and Berești) and 61 communes comprising 180 villages. Confluence area between the Covurlui Plateau to the north (50% of the county's surface), the Tecuci and Covurlui plains (34%), and the lower Siret and Prut meadows to the south (16%), Galați County represents a unitary structure from the geomorphological point of view. The main watercourses are the rivers Danube, Prut, and Siret, the main lakes are Brateș and Tălăbasca. The maximum altitude is reached in the Fălciu Hills: .
Relief
Due to its position on the outside of the Carpathian arc, Galați County occupies the area of interpenetration of the edges of the East-European, South-European and partly Central-European geographical sub-regions, which is faithfully reflected both in the climatic conditions, in the vegetation cover and soils, as well as in the geological structure of the relief. The latter offer a view with gentle heights ranging between in the north and in the south. The territory of Galați County itself presents a tabular (flat) relief with a more pronounced fragmentation in the north and weaker in the south;five geomorphological units can be distinguished, according to altitude, position and relief features: Covurlui Plateau, Tecuci Plain, Covurlui Plain, Low Siret Meadow, and Low Prut Meadow. The old geological formations are of little importance from the point of view of mineral resources. Hydrocarbons (crude oil and natural gas) have been identified and are being extracted in the areas Schela-Independența, Munteni-Berheci and Brateș. Young and especially Quaternary geological formations, consisting of common clays, sands, gravels are exploited in Galați, Tecuci, Braniștea and in the minor bed of the river Prut, having particular importance for the construction materials industry.
Nature reserves and nature monuments The main natural reserve in Galați County is located on the sands of the Tecuci Plain, namely south of the town of Liesti, around the village of Hanu Conachi, on a strip of about long and wide with an area of about and which continues to the Siret meadow. A few distance from the city of Galați is the paleontological reserve of Barboși (Tirighina) with an area of about , containing mollusk fossils from the old Euxine phase (about 400,000 years ago). Also, not far from Galați, namely to the north of the city, but on the Prut valley, on the territory of the commune Tulucești, in the place called Râpa Bălaia, there is the second paleontological reserve. The third paleontological reserve is located near the city of Tecuci, on the road Tecuci-Valea Mărului-Pechea-Galați, with a surface of . The reservation is located on the lower terrace of the Bârlad river, at the point called La Rateș, where there was once an inn. In the eastern part of the county, on the territory of the Băneasa commune, between the villages of Băneasa and Roșcani, is the Băneasa Forest, where, in addition to the forest itself, the wild peony is also protected, on account of which legends were created and a great popular celebration that takes place every year, the "Peony Festival". Also, in the forest at Hanu Conachi, the "Acacia Festival" is held every year. These two reserves are not only scientific objectives, but also permanent attractions for tourists.
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification, the territory of Galați County belongs entirely to the continental climate sector. The southern and central part, which represents more than 90% of the surface, is a plain area, and the northern extremity - which accounts for almost 10% of the territory - is a hilly area. In both climatic areas, summers are very hot and dry and winters are frosty, marked by strong blizzards, but also by frequent temperature changes caused by advections of warm and moist air from the S and SW that cause intervals of warming and melting of the snow cover. Against the general climatic background, the meadows of the Siret, the Prut and the Danube introduce into the values and regime of the main meteorological elements, changes that lead to the creation of a specific meadow topoclimate, wetter and cooler in summer and wetter and less cold in winter. The general circulation of the atmosphere has as its main features the relatively high frequency of slow advections of temperate-oceanic air from the W and NW (especially in the warm semester), the equally high frequency of advections of temperate-continental air from the NE and E (especially in cold season), as well as less frequent advections of arctic air from the N and tropical maritime air from the SW and S.
Demographics
On December 1, 2021, the population of the county was 496,892 inhabitants (down from 2011 when 536,167 inhabitants were registered), which represents 2.61% of the total population of Romania (the country's fifteenth county). Of that population, 242,055 are men and 254,837 women, with 259,071 living in urban areas and 237,821 in rural areas. The population density is .
The seat of the county - Galați, the eighth largest city in Romania, with a population of 217,851 inhabitants, is the largest maritime port of the Danube on the territory of Romania, located at from the Black Sea and approximately from Bucharest and the cities of Iași, Ploiești, Constanța, Chișinău (Republic of Moldova), and Odesa (Ukraine).
Ethnic structure
According to the 2011 census, the ethnic structure of Galați County was relatively compact, with a high percentage of residents who declared themselves Romanian (90.07%), respectively 482,932 out of a total of 536,167. The second ethnic group in the number of inhabitants was that of the Roma - 16,990 (3.17%), followed by all the others (which did not exceed 1% of the total): Russian-Lipovans - 180, Greeks - 156, Hungarians - 133, Turks - 78, Italians - 68, Germans - 62, Jews - 57, Ukrainians - 48, Armenians - 29, Tatars - 4, Serbs - 8, Bulgarians - 7, Macedonians - 6, Poles - 3, other ethnic groups - 477. For 34,916 inhabitants (6.51%), the information was unavailable.
Citizenship From the point of view of the citizenship of the county residents, on December 1, 2021, 496,048 were Romanian citizens (99.83%), Moldovan - 322, Italian - 123, Turkish - 37, British - 30, Ukrainians - 30, Spanish - 23, Greeks - 20, Syrians - 20, Germans - 14, French - 13, Americans - 12, Dutch - 8, Iraqis - 7, Serbian - 4, Hungarians - 3. 39 inhabitants were citizens of other European countries, and 125 of countries from other continents. 3 were stateless, and 7 did not declare their citizenship.
Administration and Politics
Galati County is administered by a county council consisting of 34 councilors. The president of the Galați County Council and the county councilors are elected locally, for a 4-year term.
Following the 2024 local elections, the council is chaired by Costel Fotea (PSD), which has been in office since June 2016.